I am currently in the process of building a computer. A friend recommended that I get a fast front side bus, but they are alot higher in price. Any suggestions on whether or not it is worth it with a 2.4 Ghz P4 or faster processor?

June 27th, 2003, 05:41 PM

chaoswraith

In my opinion it is definitely worth getting the 800MHz FSB. I believe that you can only get HyperThreading technology working if you have the 800 FSB. Very huge advantage in your processor load and speed.

-ChaosWraith

June 27th, 2003, 06:10 PM

allenb1963

The faster FSB is definitely an advantage, but unless you are using apps that are very processor intensive or a heavy duty gamer you probably won't notice any discernible difference. At this point I'd be more considerate of the next generation processors forthcoming from AMD and Intel and socket changes that will be involved. Pop over to www.tomshardwareguide.com and check out the last "head to head" benchmarks between the Athlon and P4 families and catch a glimpse of the not-too-distant future of processors.

June 27th, 2003, 07:31 PM

cheyenne1212

Sure 800 mhz FSB would be nice to have but your gonna pay for it. Like allenb said, unless you gonna be running intensive apps, or are completely dedicated to things like seti@home and folding@home a 533 mhz FSB would do you just fine.

June 27th, 2003, 10:19 PM

HTRegz

The choice is yours to make.. depending on if you have the money... bigger is obviously better.. but if you aren't going to use it.. why waste the money.. unless you want the bragging rights.

The big thing to remember is that the speed of your FSB and the speed of your ram need to go together....

DDR400 will run at full speed on a 800Mhz FSB.. but only 333Mhz on a 533Mhz frontside bus and only 266Mhz on a 400Mhz FSB
DDR333 will run at full speed on a 533Mhz FSB, but only 320Mhz on a 800Mhz FSB and 266Mhz on a 400 Mhz FSB..

So make sure you buy appropriately if you go with the 800Mhz FSB but then buy DDR333 your ram will only operate at 320Mhz and if you get the 533Mhz FSB then DDR400 would just be a waste of money.

[EDIT]
I guess I should have mentioned that this applies to the Intel i865G and i865PE boards for certain.. I'm unsure on other motherboards
[/EDIT]

June 28th, 2003, 04:29 AM

Alphaflux

the way i understand it, the processor has its own FS bus, and having a motherboard that has more than the processor has, is bascily useless, becuase in essence, the computer is only as fast as its slowest link. since most P4 processors are 433 mhz FS bus or 533mhz FS bus than don't go with 800 mhz fs bus, cuase your wasting your money at this point in time, wait till the technology catches up, either that or spend more money on a processor if you have it of course, hope this helps some, good luck on the building process by the way. :D

June 28th, 2003, 08:12 PM

VictorKaum

Intel P4 2400 or 2600 or 2800 or 3200 Mhz 800FSB proc's are becoming more and more widely spread and available. They are all 478 socket and backwards compatible with the 533 FSB. Motherboards with 800 Mhz FSB are becoming cheaper. Abit IC7, Abit IS, Asus P4P800
In combination with fast ram, like Corsair Twinx PC3200 or PC3500 you will have a box that is lightning fast... however do you need this calculatingpower? If you are a hardcore gamer or need some strong 2D or 3D rendering then it's probably worth the money. Otherwise pure show box.

June 29th, 2003, 09:50 PM

darkes

Quote:

Originally posted here by HTRegz The choice is yours to make.. depending on if you have the money... bigger is obviously better.. but if you aren't going to use it.. why waste the money.. unless you want the bragging rights.

The big thing to remember is that the speed of your FSB and the speed of your ram need to go together....

DDR400 will run at full speed on a 800Mhz FSB.. but only 333Mhz on a 533Mhz frontside bus and only 266Mhz on a 400Mhz FSB
DDR333 will run at full speed on a 533Mhz FSB, but only 320Mhz on a 800Mhz FSB and 266Mhz on a 400 Mhz FSB..

So make sure you buy appropriately if you go with the 800Mhz FSB but then buy DDR333 your ram will only operate at 320Mhz and if you get the 533Mhz FSB then DDR400 would just be a waste of money.

[EDIT]
I guess I should have mentioned that this applies to the Intel i865G and i865PE boards for certain.. I'm unsure on other motherboards
[/EDIT]

Same thing applies with SIS chipsets as well. I was rather puzzled when I upgraded my PC at home with a new m/b (533 Mhz FSB), P4 processor & DDR memory. I'd asked for DDR333, but actually got shipped DDR400 instead. PC didn't boot, but on power off/power on it booted correctly with a warning message saying some settings had been changed on a temporary basis - some sort of 'safe mode' I guess. Pretty good of the BIOS to figure this one out :)

I managed to fix the problem permanently by going into the Frequency/Voltage Control options in the BIOS and choosing a ratio of 5:4 so that the memory ran at the correct speed relative to the clock frequency (i.e. DDR 333 rather than DDR 400).

Trouble is the BIOS asks the DDR chip what speed it runs at, and when it gets a response of DDR400, it just crashes, but it does remember this for the next time you boot, and corrects it on a temporary basis ...